IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people [THE ARISTOCRATS AMONG EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS WHO WISHED TO RULE THEIR OWN REPUBLIC IN THE NEW WORLD RATHER THAN SERVE THE BRITISH MONARCHY] to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God [NOTE THE NONDENOMINATIONAL MENTION OF GOD AND THE EXPRESSED PRIMACY OF NATURE AS AN AUTHORITY] entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [i.e., WHITE MEN, AS OPPOSED TO WOMEN AND NONWHITES] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness [WOULD TODAY'S DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES SIGN OFF ON THIS CLAUSE?]. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed [SOUNDS CYNICAL, BUT IT WAS TRUE THEN AND IS TRUE NOW, NO?]. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism [SUBSTITUTE THE CORPORATE SECTOR FOR THE KING, AND IT IS INTERESTING HOW WELL THE TERM "DESPOTISM" FITS AS A DESCRIPTION FOR DICTATING THE UNDERLYING RULES OF MODERN LIFE AND GOVERNMENT], it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government [A NICE EUPHEMISM FOR REVOLUTION]. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good [THINK UNIVERSAL GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED HEALTH CARE, LONG PREFERRED IN VOTER OPINION POLLS].
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them [THINK THE UNFUNDED MANDATE STRAITJACKET OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND INTO WHICH CASH-DRAINED STATES HAVE BEEN FORCED, AND THE FEDERAL NULLIFYING OF GUN CONTROL LEGISLATION VOTED INTO PLACE BY RESIDENTS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FOR THEIR OWN VIOLENCE-RAVAGED JURISDICTION].
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. [THINK ELECTORAL REPRESENTATION FOR THE MOSTLY-BLACK, HEAVILY-POOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA].
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures [FROM A PUBLIC POINT OF VIEW, THINK CLOSED-DOOR WHITE HOUSE MEETINGS WITH INDUSTRY TO DRAFT POLICY THAT CITIZENS WILL TIREDLY RESIGN THEMSELVES TO ACCEPTING].
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. [THINK AGGRESSIVE CORPORATE LOBBYING, IMPLICIT BLACKMAIL VIA THE DANGLING OF CORPORATE CAMPAIGN DONATIONS, AND EXPLICIT LOBBYIST AUTHORING OF THE ACTUAL TEXT OF LEGISLATIVE BILLS, ALL OF WHICH EFFECTIVELY DISSOLVE THE MEANING OF REPRESENTATION].
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected [THINK THE 2000 ELECTION], whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise [THINK THE ANGER IN 2000 AND 2004, AND THE CYNICISM OF AN ELECTORATE THAT HAS LONG VOTED AT A 50% RATE, HAVING ACCEPTED THE BITTER REALITY OF LARGELY NON-REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT]; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within [THINK THE SQUANDERING OF AMERICAN MILITARY RESOURCES IN FOOLISH WAR, AND THE NEGLECT OF OUR UNDER-REGULATED ECONOMY UNTIL IT CRUMBLED].
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands [THINK ANTI-IMMIGRATION POLITICS AND FEAR OF THE NEW NONWHITE MAJORITY].
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers [THINK RESISTANCE TO COURT AUTHORITY OVER MATTERS OF TORTURE].
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. [THINK CHANNELING FEDERAL JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS TO JUDGES WHO DRINK THE IDEOLOGICAL KOOL-AID].
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. [THINK THE COERCIVE POLITICAL THEATER OF "HOMELAND SECURITY" AND THE SECRET PERMISSION TO SPY ON AMERICANS, TO INTIMIDATE COMPANIES TO INVADE THE PRIVACY OF CUSTOMERS' PERSONAL DATA, AND TO DETAIN AND "EXTRAORDINARILY RENDER" PERSONS TO OTHER NATIONS TO BE TORTURED].
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures [THINK SECRET DOMESTIC DETENTIONS AND SECRET PRISONS ABROAD].
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. [THINK SECRET PRISONS AND ATTEMPTED MILITARY AND SECURITY TRUMPING OF CIVIL LIBERTIES].
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation [THINK PRESUMED EXECUTIVE RIGHT TO VIOLATE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS]:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us [THINK THE "WAR ON DRUGS," THE GENERAL MILITARIZATION OF URBAN POLICE ACTIONS AND ATTITUDES, AND THE UBIQUITOUS DOMESTIC PRESENCE OF ARMED SOLDIERS BOUND FOR ILL-CONCEIVED WAR OR SERVING A DUBIOUS OPERATION OF "HOMELAND SECURITY"]:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States [THINK AMERICAN REJECTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL AUTHORITY OF THE WORLD COURT OVER ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY AMERICAN SOLDIERS. THINK AMERICAN VOIDING OF HABEUS CORPUS FOR THOSE DEFINED WITHOUT EXPLANATION AS ENEMIES OF THE STATE]:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world [THINK CUBA AND OTHER POTENTIAL TRADE PARTNERS CUT OFF FOR POLITICAL REASONS THAT ARE OFTEN HYPOCRITICAL, e.g., CLAIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN CUBA WHILE THE UNITED STATES CONTINUALLY DOES BUSINESS WITH PROVEN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS SUCH AS CHINA, COLOMBIA, ISRAEL AND OTHERS]:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent [THINK WHAT YOU PERSONALLY PAID THIS YEAR FOR THE IRAQ WAR]:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury [THINK DRASTICALLY UNDERFUNDED PUBLIC DEFENDERS' OFFICES, AND DEATH PENALTY TRIALS WITHOUT COMPETENT DEFENSE COUNSEL]:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences [THINK INTERNATIONAL KIDNAPPINGS, SECRET PRISONS ABROAD, AND EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION]:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies [THINK THE SPREADING STATE-BY-STATE HEGEMONY OF CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS]
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments [THINK SIGNING STATEMENTS, PROTECTING EXECUTIVE BRANCH SECRECY, AND IGNORING SUBPOENAS]:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever [THINK EXPANSION OF THE POWERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH].
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us [THINK HEALTH CARE AND THE POWER OF PROFIT-DRIVEN PRIVATE INSURERS TO DICTATE LIFE AND DEATH] .
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people [THINK ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND THE LACK THEREOF].
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation [THINK BLACKWATER, AND HALLIBURTON'S NO-BID IRAQ CONTRACT].
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands [THINK RECKLESSLY DESPERATE "INFORMERS" AND COERCED "CONFESSIONS" IN THE "WAR ON TERROR."].
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. [THINK WHITE MAINSTREAM HYSTERICALLY RACIST FEARS AND COMMON PROFILING AND ATTEMPTED CONTAINMENT OF POOR PEOPLES OF COLOR].
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. [THINK POPULAR FRUSTRATION REFLECTED IN DECLINING VOTING RATES OVER THE DECADES]. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. [FOR BLACK AMERICANS, THINK THE RIOTS OF THE 1960s]. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. [THINK REPARATIONS FOR THE SLAUGHTER, OUTRIGHT THEFT OF LAND, AND BETRAYAL OF TREATIES REGARDING NATIVE AMERICANS; AND FOR THE CARNAGE AND MASSIVE WEALTH GENERATED BY BLACK SLAVERY]. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. [THINK THE CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENTS OF NATIVE AMERICANS, BLACKS, WOMEN, AND GAYS]. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. [THINK WHAT IT MIGHT REQUIRE TO GAIN A GOVERNMENT RESPONSIVE TO THE EXPRESSED NEEDS AND INTERESTS OF THE PUBLIC IN THE UNITED STATES IN 2009 AND BEYOND].
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